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GVK Power and Infrastructure (GVK) has signed a concession agreement with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashta to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for developing the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

The airport will serve the twin cities of Mumbai and Navi  Mumbai. It will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, on 1,160-hectare site. The total project investment is estimated at INR160 billion (US$2.5 billion).

GVK, as the leader of the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) consortium, holds 74% equity shares of the SPV, with  CIDCO owning the remaining 26%. The initial concession period is 30 years, with an option to extend for a further 10 years.

This follows a lengthy tender process. As reported on this platform, in June 2015, CIDCO shortlisted four bidders for the project. Initially only MIAL submitted a proposal, which prompted CIDCO to extend the deadline twice. In February 2017, MIAL was selected as the preferred bidder, over one other contender.

The consortium received the letter of award from CIDCO on 25 October 2017.

The first phase of the airport is expected to be operational in 2019 and will be able to handle 10 million passengers annually. Full commercial operations are scheduled for 2030. At this point, the airport will be able to handle approximately 60 million passengers, making it the largest in India. It will have two runways.

CIDCO are also developing new expressway projects to increase connectivity to the new airport.  These include the Vasai to Alibaug Multi Modal Corridor (MMC), which will connect the outer fringes of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region with NMIA, and the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, which will provide transport links from the business hubs in the south, central and western parts of Mumbai to NMIA.

Furthermore, in order to cater for the demand during the later phases of the airport development, CIDCO plan to incorporate NMIA into the Navi Mumbai metro system, linking to Belapur, Kharghar, Pendhar, Taloja and Khandeshwar.

The air travel demand forecasts for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region anticipate that demand will grow to over 100 million passengers per annum by 2030-31. The existing airport in Mumbai, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, is fast reaching saturation, handling just under 45 million passengers in 2016. Thus, it is not able to handle the increasing demand alone.